Great Spirit of the Dark
by Do Wop
Summary: Once upon a time, Koh was a mighty spirit, with power, purpose, and status. But one day a foolish error removed his power and status, and he swore vengeance against the one who caused him to lose them.
1. Prologue

_It was the last Council of Spirits. All of the Great Spirits were seated upon their great thrones, glaring down upon the prone figure who lay at the center of their circle, all save two. The first of these was the Great Spirit of the Dark, and he was one prostrate at the center of the circle of thrones. The other who was not seated was the Great Spirit of Light, who stood over him in judgement._

_Over all of them, so tall that even their magnificent thrones were dwarfed by its stature, stood the Creator, the one who had given all of them life and purpose. It glowed with a light so brilliant that even the Great Spirit of light paled beside it. Its entire being radiated golden light, so bright and strong that it hurt to look upon it. Its features were indiscernable behind its radiance, but two things were clear. It was looking down on the Great Spirit of the Dark with an intensity that all the Great Spirits combined could not hope to match, and he it extremely displeased._

_As his misdeeds were read and recounted once more by the Great Spirit of Light, the accused looked around to his brothers and sisters for support, for compassion, for mercy. He found none. The Great Spirits of Moon and Sun both looked down on him with equal disapproval, united in opinion-possibly for the first time-by his foul actions. The Great Spirit of Earth had him fixed with a steely glare, while the Great Spirit of Ocean would not meet his eye. The Great Spirit of Air and the Great Spirit of Flame were both glowering at him equally. The Great Spirit of the Wild was licking her lips and staring him up and down, as if sizing him up for a meal. The only face in the circle that did not express disapproval was that of the Great Spirit of Knowledge, whose face was as impassive as ever as he wrote down in a large tome an account of all that was occurring. But even there, something about his body language that suggested anger. He would find no ally there. No, this time he stood alone._

_At last the Great Spirit of Light finished his reading of the charges and took a seat upon his throne. Like all the thrones, reflected in its shape the nature and function of the Spirit who sat it. His seemed to be arved from light, and had reflected in its surface a thousand human faces, male and female, which appeared and vanished and were replaced. Carved above his head was a balancing scale._

_The Great Spirit of Darkness looked at the assembled faces, begging for mercy. "Please, I meant nothing by it, just a game, just a game. It was only a few mortals! Please have mercy on me, please!'_

_It was then that the Creator spoke._

**Say nothing, prodigal spirit,** _it said, in a voice that entered through the ears and penetrated to the deepest, most primal part of the brain, _**There will be no mercy for you today! You have broken my law, and you have broken my code. You defied the basic instructions I laid upon you in your moment of creation, and sought to make yourself a mighty ruler instead of a humble servant. For this, you shall pay dearly.**

**However**_, it said a sigh, _**you still have a part to play in the Balance. And I am loathe to destroy anything that I have created. And so I shall spare your life.**

"_Oh thank you, kind Creator. Thank you, I shall not forget this, this will never happen again I swear you-"_

**Do not take this for an act of mercy, prodigal spirit! **_the Creator bellowed, its light searing even stronger, until even the Great Spirit of Light was forced to shield his eyes. _**I shall allow you to live, but I shall not forget your trespasses. Your physical body has been destroyed, and you are forbidden from creating another until the time comes for you to bring about the End of All Days. You are hereby confined to the Spirit World until it is time for you to fulfill your function. Your name shall no longer be spoken among mortals, save perhaps as a whispered story, meant to frighten small children. Your shrines shall crumble, your priests shall wither and die, and you shall be forgotten to the world of mortals! **_A hand extended, and a bolt of light shot from the palm. It struck the Great Spirit of the Dark about the misection, causing him to writhe and twist. He screamed for help, but the Creator was unrelenting. And as he twisted in pain, he swore vengeance a thousand times against the Great Spirit of Light.  
_

**When you defied my will, you gave up all right to the titles and names I gave you at the Beginning of All Things, and so now I name you once more. I name you Ebesh, the Flesh-Render. I name you Panei, the Betrayer. I name you Koh, the Face-Stealer!**


	2. The Beginning of All Things

"Has everything been prepared as I instructed, Brother Luther?"

The young acolyte bowed deeply, his enveloping robe concealing his facial features. Luther was the youngest of the Circle, a homeless boy of fifteen that Brother Wu had recruited off the street. The rest of them were middle-aged conjurers and decrepit old men.

"Everything is ready, Master Chun. We await only your command."

"Then let's get started, shall we? I'd say we've waited long enough for this day. No reason to put it off any longer."

He raised his hood and turned to join the others. They stood within the crumbling ruins of an ancient Temple. Something bad had happened here a long time ago. They weren't certain what, but whatever it was had saturated the ruins with enough negative energy to make it the ideal location for this ritual.

A circle of ten candles sat in the darkened chamber, forming a perfect decagon. At each side of the shape, a hooded figure stood. Circlemaster Chun took his place on the nearest side, and inhaled deeply.

"Great Beast of the Dark, we call you to our presence tonight. In my right hand I hold your sigil; in my left I hold a mote of your essence. You cannot deny my call! Come!"

The sigil was a replication; the original had been lost in ages past. It was the shape that mattered, though, not the stonework itself. The mote of essence had been considerably harder to obtain. It had required breaking into several highly secured archives and museams, and they probably would never have found it if one of them hadn't thought to check under "Mystical Curiosities" at the Ba Sing Se Museam of Archeology. The fools had never realized what they'd had in their possession.

With a shout, Chun hurled both items into the center of the circle. Dust arose where they had fallen, and-just for a moment-Chun thought he saw the flickering of a dark shape, lurking at the circle's center.

"We have drawn your circle in the blood of innocents! We have made your sign with the entrails of birds! You must answer us! Come!"

The circle was difficult to see in the dim candlelight, but it was there. No doubt the parents of the nearby town were furiously beating the woods now, searching for the children they had used. Not that they would ever find them. The sign was at the center of the circle, completely invisible in the gloom.

"I call you with a bone that I pulled from the earth. I bind you with the ashes of a dead man. I summon you with graveyard soil and dirt. You cannot ignore my call! Come!"

Now Chun could feel more than see an indistinct figure crouching at the circle's center. He could feel it staring at him. _I know you,_ it seemed to say, _now, what will you do next?_

Swallowing nervously, Chun gestured for Luther to step forward. The boy had been told he had a special part to play in this ceremony. He had the incantation memorized, he knew exactly what the say and he had even practiced getting the right inflections on the words. The boy had worked so hard for this. It was too bad he would never get to speak his part.

As Brother Luther walked past him and cleared his throat, Chun pulled a dagger from his sleeve and thrust it into Luther's back, directly into the heart. The boy's eyes widened in shock for a moment, then went dead as Chun withdrew the blade and Luther's body fell towards the ground. As one, the other Brothers began chanting quietly in arcane languages, their voices twining together to form a pulsing, churning sea of sound. Chun straightened, returned the dagger to its place, and addressed the Spirit once more.

"I call you with betrayal. I bind you with blood. I summon you with a face! Your ritual is complete! The price has been offered! You must come to us! You cannot deny us! Come!"

The chanting crescendoed, reaching new heights of intensity and sound, and then ceased suddenly. All eyes were on the center of the circle, where the dust was beginning to fade, and in its place was a coiled, bulky figure...

The sound of soft chuckling wafted out from the center of the circle, and then all the candles snuffed out, and darkness enveloped them.

A few moments later, the screaming started.

_In the beginning, they were Ten._

_The Creator pulled them from the formless mass and one by one gave them shape and form. In those days, the world was without form and substance, and was a morass of chaos and darkness. They were at first frightened by their surroundings(for they were newly formed and not yet named, and so were as children), and cried out and clung to each other, but the Creator bent over them as a father will bend over his children, and told them not to be afraid, for the formlessness held nothing that could harm them. Its voice was soothing and calming, and the young ones who heard it were silent and felt no more fear. Then the Creator told them to watch it about its labor, and it turned away from them._

_The sound began at the back of its throat and rippled outwards until it seemed that even the chaos that surrounded them danced and jumped in harmony with it's song. Such a song had never before been heard, and never again shall be heard, until the End of All Things when the Creator will return to see the end of what it created._

_The Creator took a handful of the chaos that surrounded them, and began spreading it across the ground. As it did, he sang to it, telling it of its form and shape, and the purpose it served. And as it spread it, it took form and hardened, and when it was finished the chaos they stood on was replaced with solid earth._

_It took another handful of the chaos, and began pouring it out across the land. It sang to it of flowing, of pushing and pulling, of waves and tides and of wetness. And when it was done pouring the formless substance out, the chaos had formed itself into the great ocean._

_The Creator took another handful of the dark stuff, and sang to it of flying, of breath, of life and of song. When he was done, the threw it away, scattering it, and it became the air._

_Then it took some more of the formlessness, and sang to it of life, of pulse, and of movement as he molded it. When he opened his hands, the Creator was holding a small plant. It took another handful of the formlessness and repeated this, over and over, with more and more complex creatures, until at last the world was populated by all manner of plant and animal._

_Then the Creator took what little remained of the formlessness, and locked it away in a glass sphere until it was needed. And so the creation of what would later be named the World of Spirits was complete._

_His task finished, the Creator turned to face the Ten beings it had first created_, _and bent down over them once more. It asked them if they had watched and seen what it had done, and each of the Ten gave a swift nod. The Creator smiled widely, and told them to go out into the world it had created, and live within it, and each was to learn one thing. If they needed the Creator, they were to but cry out its name-and they were told its name, although it has long since been lost in the passing of time-and it would be at their side, ready to help. In one year they were to return to the Crator, and show it what they had learned._

_When one year had passed, they returned, and presented themselves before the Creator one by one. The first came forward with a grceful stride, and when asked to demonstrate what she had learned, she raised one hand and pushed aside a great body of water. The Creator was pleased, and named her La. It granted her the title of Great Spirit of the Ocean, and gave her dominion over the waters of the world, and charged her with keeping them in their proper channels. La bowed deeply and returned to the others._

_The second to approach did so with wide, confidant steps, and when asked to demonstrate what he had learned, extended a fist and pulled out of the earth a perfect statue of himself. The Creator was pleased, and named him Gan, and granted him the title of Great Spirit of the Earth. He was given dominion over all forms of earth, and charged with maintaining the great expanses of solid ground._

_The third to approach came forward with an arrogant swagger, and when asked to show what he had learned, he formed a great mass of flames and sent them spinning in a beautiful fashion. The Creator was pleased, and named him Ashin, Great Spirit of Flame. He was given power and authority over all that burned, and was tasked with providing renewal and warmth across the length and breadth of the land. He returned to his brothers and sisters in the same manner he had left them._

_The fourth to approach did not simply walk forward, but instead came forward with a series of flips and acrobatics. When asked to demonstrate what she had learned, she grinned and gestured towards the plants and animals that surrounded them, and the vines grew and extended, and the birds flew about in perfect formation, and the animals came forward and prostrated themselves before the Creator. The Creator was pleased, and named her Tysha, and gave her the title Great Spirit of the Wild. To her was given the task of keeping in balance the cycle of predator and prey, and ensuring that the creatures of this new world would keep the natural order. She returned to her brothers and sister with another series of acrobatics, and sat to play with her sister La, for though they were older now, they were still but children._

_The fifth to approach did so with stately steps, his head held high. When he was asked to show what he had learned, he took from the ground a dying flower, and breathed life back into it. The Creator was pleased, named him Ilza, and gave to him the title of Great Spirit of the Sun. He was given dominion over half of the sky, and was charged with showering heat and light upon the world below._

_The sixth to approach did so with a gay, playful step, and when asked to demonstrate what she had learned, she raised one hand with a dramatic flair and pulled a large body of water towards herself. The Creator was pleased, and named her Tui, the Great Spirit of the Moon. It set her in command of the sky's other half, and charged her with providing light while Ilza slept, and of helping La keep the oceans in balance._

_The seventh approached with a walk so graceful that her feet seemed to never touch the ground. When asked to demonstrate what she had learned, she created great gusts of wind and formed cyclones. The creator was pleased, and named her Basha, Great Spirit of Air. He charged her with maintaining the great network of air currents, and gave her dominion over all that wafted through the sky._

_When the eighth was asked to demonstrate what he had learned, he began reciting the names and lifecycles of various species of plants and animals. The others mocked him, saying he had done it wrong, but the Creator chastised them sharply. That sort of knowledge is as important as anything they had learned, he said. And with that, he named the eighth one Wan Shi Tong, Great Spirit of Knowledge. He was charged with keeping a record of all that occured, and of collecting and guarding a great Library of all knowledge._

_That left only two who ahd yet to be named, the oldest and the youngest of the Spirits. The oldest approached first, and demonstrated proficiency in all the things that the other Spirits had shown. Although he could not make fire that burned at hot as Ashin, nor control the water as well as Tui and La, he could do what they all could, if not as well. The creator was very pleased with him, and named him Arventi, Great Spirit of Light and Preservation. He was charged with keeping the Balance between his brothers and sisters, so that no one of them could gain dominence over the others. In order that he could fulfill his function, the Creator infused him with a tiny fraction of its own essence. Of the total of the Creator's power, it was an almost immeasurably small amount, but it was enough to amplify his power tenfold._

_And then the youngest spirit came forward and demonstrated his talent. The Creator named him Shinbei, the Great Spirit of Darkness and Destruction, and gave him the most important task of all._

"Oh, well done, gentlemen. You were _very_ close. Only one tiny mistake, and that's quite understandable given that the ritual hasn't been performed in hundreds of years. You called and summoned me perfectly, but you were supposed to bind me with his flesh, not his blood."

Koh's chitinous legs clicked across the stone floor as he slowly circled the room. His insectile body wormed across the ground, between candles and bodies.

"Still, I suppose I should be grateful to you all. Ah, this is just perfect. My brothers and sisters are idle, resting in physical forms. They probably don't even know that I'm back. This is just the right time for my return. There's so much to do; kingdoms to topple, rulers to corrupt, armies to destroy. But first...vengeance. Thank you, gentlemen, for the body...and for the meal."

Koh turned and left, his legs chittering across the stone, leaving behind ten men futiley clutching at the blank slate their face used to occupy.


	3. The Shaping of the World

_Now that the Creator had named and titled each of the young spirits, it took the glass sphere containing the last of the formlessness and shattered it upon the ground. The chaos drifted out and formed a murky cloud. The young spirits shied away from it, but the Creator paid no heed; It began instructing them in the shaping of the formlessness, speaking in a measured tone and demonstrating._

When it was finished teaching, it tasked the Great Spirits with using the last of the chaos to forge for themselves thrones. These would be the seats of their power, and were to reflect their function and nature. All ten set to their task eagerly, and began collecting and shaping the chaos. When they were finished, ten thrones stood in a circle, facing towards the center.

Arventi's was carved of Light, and a thousand faces appeared and vanished in its surface every second. At the head of the throne was carved a balancing scale. Wan Shi Tong had formed his throne out of words, and at the head was an open book. It is said that if you could read the message written on the throne, an ancient mystery will be revealed. Basha formed her throne out of clouds, and at the head engraved a bird in flight. Tysha formed hers out of tangled vines. Tui formed hers out of transparent ice, while La created hers from churning sea foam. Ashin's took the form of a great bonfire, burning eternally. Gan's was formed out of solid eath, and was of a simple, unornamented design. Ilza's was formed of still-warm volcanic magma, formed into a great stature. And Shinbei's was formed of obsidian stone, and etched deeply with sinister-looking runes.

Seeing now that they understood how to use the chaos, the Creator took them by the hand and transported them to another plane. This was a place of complete formlessness, much like their world had been when they were born. Now, though, they were the masters of this place, and did not fear the chaos. The Creator showed them how to move between the worlds, and then left them, charging the shaping of this plane to his ten children.

* * *

"I'm looking for somebody, Hei-Bai. And I do believe that you know where he is."

Hei-Bai roared with pain and rage as Koh tightened his coils around the great panda, and began to squeeze. It wasn't as powerful a squeeze as it could have been, but that could come later. This was but a warning, an admonishment against lying or withholding information.

The forest spirit bellowed out denials, but Koh scoffed at them.

"Oh, please. Don't try to lie to _me_. I practically invented it. And, anyways, I know you were with him. I can still smell him all over you. So don't try to tell me that you haven't seen him."

Hei-Bai roared out threats and warnings. Koh would not get away with this, he would tell his mother of him, and then she would strike him down like the dog he was...

"Do not make me laugh, little nephew. Your mother sleeps, just like the rest of my brothers and sisters. Only one of my brothers is any threat to me, and I'm _looking_ for him. And anyways," he said, coiling around Hei-Bai and whispering in his ear, "You know just as well as I do that she was always a little afraid of me."

The forest spirit snarled at Koh, but the Great Spirit slid around him and pressed his face right up against the panda's.

"He's your what?" Koh chuckled, "Your friend? Oh, isn't that nice. When I find him and defeat him, maybe I could come back here with his face and play with you! Would you like that-"

Koh was cut off as Hei-Bai shifted into his Spirit Form, opened his mouth, and blasted Koh with a burst of pale blue flame. Koh cried out and pulled away. His chitinous coils loosened just enough for Hei-Bai to break free.

A bear once more, Hei-Bai surged forward, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and Koh. He ran frantically through the forest, darting back and forth panickedly.

A tendril of darkness shot out from behind him and snagged him by the rear paw. Hai-Bei scrabbled on the ground, tyring to break free, but the tendril pulled him backwards through the undergrowth, leading all the way back to its source. The tendril, which emerged from Koh's mouth, suspended him in mid-air by his back right paw.

Koh spat out several more strands of darkness, attaching Hei-Bai to the surrounding trees like a fly at the center of a spider's web.

"Stupid, stupid little creature," Koh said, shaking with rage. "Did you actually think you could hurt me? I was one of the first beings pulled out of the raw stuff of creation! You are nothing more than my sister's bastard whelp. All you succeeded in doing is making me angry! Now, I will ask you one more time: _where is my brother?_"

Hei-Bai roared defiance.

"Oh, you will tell me. Sooner or later," Koh said as the strands of darkness suspending him in midair twisted, dislocating Hei-Bai's hind legs  
with a sickening _pop_, "You will tell me."

* * *

_If Arventi harboured any illusions about the severity of his task, they were eradicated almost immediately. No sooner had the Ten Great Spirits began shaping their new world than disagreements arose between them._

The first was between the spirits of Earth and Ocean. They could not come to an agreement about how much of their new world would be land and how much of it water. Only the surface of the earth can be used,_ La argued,_ while in the ocean, things can live throughout the entire volume.

But earth is a far better environment for plant life,_ Gan argued,_ and without land on which to roost, there can be no birds and other creatures of the air! Far from making more space available, the ocean cuts off the entire sky!__

Back and forth the argument went, and as it did the other siblings began to take sides. Tui immediately rushed to La's aid, as she always did. Ilza fell in with Gan, perhaps less out of agreement with Gan than out of disagreement with Tui. Basha, who found land far too restrictive, agreed with La, while Ashin supported Gan, fearing for the fate of his own area of dominion, should the world be covered in water.

Tysha, whose domain was being co-opted as figureheads by both sides of the argument, declared the whole issue silly and said she wanted nothing to do with it.

Wan Shi Tong said nothing, and recorded everything.

Arventi heard them all and listened to what they had to say. And then, when he could bear no more of their pleas, he made a decision. The world would be split into equal parts Earth and Water, and both would be intertwined with the other. There would be lakes and rivers running through Gan's earth, and underneath Tui's ocean there would be a layer of earth. It was not the solution that either of them desired, but they both agreed that it was fair. And so the shaping of the world was able to continue.

There were many other disputes amongst the Ten. Ilza and Tui had a minor feud over who would control the greater share of the skies, which was only resolved when Arventi declared that their dominion of the skies would wax and wane, so that Ilza would control the greater portion at one time, and then would gradually lose out to Tui's control, and then back again. Wan Shi Tong and Ashin quarrelled for a time. Wan Shi Tong was upset with Ashin for the wanton razing that his forest fires caused. Wan Shi Tong misliked the way the fires removed all it touched from the world, leaving nothing behind but ash, from which no information could be gained. Often these fires took objects that Wan Shi Tong had yet to record within his great library. Ashin insisted that the fires were a necessary part of the balance, that things had to be reduced to nothing so they could return again. And, as always, both of them were right.

Throughout all these conflicts, Arventi judged and ruled, and his rulings were backed up by his wisdom and his power. A balance was struck between the ten. Each of them in conflict with another, none gaining supremacy. La and Gan. Ashin and Basha. Tui and Ilza. Tysha and Wan Shi Tong. And Arventi and Shinbei.

The Shaping was a slow process. None of them had the Creator's power, and so instead of the casual ease with which It had drawn shape out of chaos, they had ages of backbreaking toil ahead of them. But it was good work, and at the end of the day they sat together making plans, still sore from the day's work.

All but one.

Shinbei, Great Spirit of Darkness and Destruction, took no part in the shaping of the world. He could not have if he wanted to. He was not a creature of creation, like the others, nor one of care and preservation, like his eldest brother. He was a creature of destruction, of entropy, the ticking clock at the center of the world. His was the most important task, but there was nothing for him to do in this still-new world. Even when the others were finished building, he would still be directionless, for death and decay is not the same thing as true Destruction. He served no purpose until the End Of All Days, when he would return what had been shaped to the Darkness from which it had been born, that it could be birthed anew.

They were but children when they first began shaping the world. By the time the first mortal man lifted his head and saw his creators, they were fully grown, and each of them had grown up in a different way.

Gan grew up reliable; A solid rock upon which one could depend, who would always be willing to give aid to those who ask and who would see whatever he began through to the end.

Tui grew up kind; A motherly figure to an infant people, who could be called upon in times of need to deliver mercy and grace.

Ashin grew up passionate; He cared so much about so many things. He gave his all to everything that he did, and with him by your side you could not hope to fail.

Wan Shi Tong grew up impatient; He knew so many things that those who knew little bored and irritated him. Only his circle of scholars could hold his interest.

Ilza grew up proud; He was a benevolent lord, and very loving to his subjects. But he was also wrathful, quick to anger and slow to forgive.

Tysha grew up playful; Of them all, she retained the most of her childhood. Although her tricks and games often seemed malicious, they served no other purpose but to amuse her, and was a small price to pay for the gifts that she brought to those who played them well.

La grew up capricious; Pulled one way and then the other, she could not be relied upon. Her attentions drifted any time their current subject appeared boring.

Basha grew up carefree; She was a free spirit, beholden to none and with none beholden to her. Wherever men and women lived free from tyranny, she was there.

Arventi grew up noble; His power was unmatched, and he had the wisdom to guide the other Spirits on their proper courses. He was in many ways the greatest of them, and certainly the one most worthy of his position.

And Shinbei grew up bored. Which is where the problems started. 


	4. The Rise of Man

Koh slid through the forest, and none marked his passing. He was a great, bulky creature, as tall as a man and as long as three, but he still somehow moved with incredible stealth. he seemed to move from shadow to shadow, never making a sound, blending seamlessly with the darkened surroundings. Only if you knew exactly what to look for could you hope to see him.

He stopped for a moment and sniffed the air. Yes. The scent was much stronger now. Hei-Bai had not lied to him. His brother was close.

He caught sight of a light burning in the forest ahead, and approached with great care. He slid to the edge of the circle of firelight, peering through the bushes. Four figures sat huddled around the flame.

He recognized his brother right away. With him were three mortals, two young girls and a boy. Koh wondered about their function. Concubines, perhaps? No, he dismissed the thought a moment later. Not concubines. His brother had never had any interest in that sort of thing.

Well, whatever their purpose and relationship with Arventi, it mattered little. He would use them to draw his brother out. His brother was far too powerful to engage lightly; he would have to lure him out and to a battleground of Koh's choosing, where the terrain and energy was in Koh's favor, in order to be assured of victory.

One of the woung women-the older one, with long brown hair, one of Tui's, if he was any judge-rose from their circle and left it, heading towards the nearby river, presumably to gather water. She had a certain stately beauty about her, and for a moment Koh considered taking her roughly in the darkness outside of their camp, and letting her run back weeping to him, and allowing that to be his messenger to him. It had been a long time since he had been able to do that, as well. But then he saw the look in his eldest brother's eyes as she walked away, and discarded that idea. No, he knew exactly what to do to send the appropriate message.

As she stepped away from the protective circle of light, Koh dogged her footsteps. He deliberately broke a twig, causing her to whirl around-but of course, when she did there was nothing there. He stalked her all the way to the river, occasionally taking small steps to attract her attention, and make her nervous. A rustling in the bushes here, looming behind her there. Terror always tasted best when properly prepared.

When she reached the edge of the river, she began gesturing, drawing water from the river into a pouch she wore on her side. He had not been mistaken; this mortal belonged to his older sister.

He slithered up a tree that stood by the waterfront, and out onto a branch that dangled above her. Although he was enormous, he seemed to have no weight to him, and the bough neither bent nor broke. He set the tree rocking, causing groaning sounds to resonate up and down the trunk. The girl whirled around.

"Ok, you can come out now, you joker. Not funny."

As she stepped towards the shoreline, Koh donned his most terrifying face, and dangled down from the branch, hanging upside down behind her.

Sensing someone behind her, she turned around again, and suddenly found herself face to face with a horror: a rotting, lesion-covered face attached to the front of an enormous centipede.

She screamed.

Koh let her scream rise until it peaked, luxuriating in the sound, and then lunged forward, forcing his face over hers. The cancerous visage vanished, replaced by a great sucking hole which closed around her face. She continued screaming in pain and terror as he pried her face off until all that came out was muffled sounds. It is hard to scream without a mouth.

Koh sigh with near-orgasmic pleasure as he swallowed her face, and began feasting on the emotions contained within. There was nothing quite like the taste of raw terror.

* * *

_Of all the wonders of creation, of all the mountains, trees, oceans, and beasts, Man was their greatest accomplishment._

All of the Great Spirits had long since taken to forming lesser Spirits out of the raw stuff of creation, giving them servants and children to watch over and delegate tasks to, but this was something different and new. They formed a great beast, and granted it the capacity for thought.

Man thrived in this new world, spreading far and wide across the land, taming it and ruling it wherever they went. In those days mortal men lived side-by-side with their creators, and the spirits all had favored groups.

The mountain nomads found favor with Basha and Tysha. Their playful, free-spirited nature appealed to the two sisters, and the nomads grew attuned to the air and wildlife around them. Ashin and Ilza chose the hardy island people of the west as their favored, due to their passionate and proud nature. Tui and La selected the tribes from the north and south poles as their chosen. They lived with the water and on the ice, and were given knowledge of its navigation and the favor of its masters, and with these gifts thrived on the fish and whale stocks. The people of the great continent were the beloved of Gan and Wan Shi Tong, for their patient and dependable nature. Wan Shi Tong built his library upon their lands, and shared all that he knew with them.

The only two spirits who had no race of their own was the oldest and the youngest. Arventi, as the world's ultimate judge and adjudicator, held himself above their conflicts, a true neutral party to whom all could go for a fair judgement. Shinbei, however, had a different reason.

Shinbei had no domains of his own, no creations to rule. He was as bored as he ever was. And so men of all nations would approach him and ask for his favor. He alone out of all the spirits held no loyalties and gave aid. He was cajoled and pleaded to. If a king went to war against his neighbours, he would seek Shinbei's blessing. The other spirits always held the same loyalties, but Shinbei would lend his aid to whoever he felt like at that moment, and that could make all the difference in the world when you go into battle.

And so Shinbei amused himself in this way for several centuries. Civilizations rose and fell at his whims. But, eventually, he tired of the intrigue and grew bored once again.

It was almost a hundred years after that that the big change happened.

Throughout the people of all four nations, there grew men and women who could bend and control the natural elements, much as the Great Spirits could. The mountain nomads developed the ability to control the air, the polar tribes learned to control the water, the continental people gained mastery of the earth, and the islanders learned to control fire. They had nowhere near the same amount of power as the Great Spirits, but if left unchecked, they could disrupt the delicate balance between the four elements that composed the entire world.

An urgent Council of Spirits was held, and each of the Great Spirits spoke on what should be done to prevent these newly-gifted mortals from doing any lasting damage. After days of heated discussion, Arventi made a decision.

The Balance between the Great Spirits was already established and could now be sustained without his help. But these gifted mortals required his aid and judgement. So he would descend among them, and house himself within a mortal shell. The mortal would be gifted with his power, including a mastery of all four elements, and the ability to channel Arventi's power to increase his own a hundredfold. When the mortal body withers and dies as it eventually must, Arventi would be reborn, into a child of a different nation.

When he first came into the world, the people called him 'the Avatar of the Lightspirit', and all four nations bowed to his superior might and wisdom. He brought harmony to the land once more, and maintained the balance. And when he died, Arventi's spirit passed from his body to that of a young girl in another nation.

As the centuries passed and Arventi continued in his cycle of reincarnation, the name was shortened, and his vessel became known simply as the Avatar.

* * *

A piercing scream tore through the forest, pulling Aang from his half-asleep stupor. For a moment his mind raced. _Who's screaming? What's going on? Where's that coming from-_

"Katara!" he called out as he arrived at a conclusion. He stood up, snapped open his glider and took off through the trees towards the river. He flew faster than he normally would have dared, faster than was safe. _Oh Spirits, please don't let me be too late, don't let me be too late..._

He flew at breakneck speed until he saw something a shadow in the river. Katara was floating facedown in the middle of the current.

Aang retracted the glider into his staff, falling down towards her, and then brought the staff down, summoning up powerful winds to push the water away from her. Aang touched down beside her as the waters came rushing back to cover them, but he set his feet and gestured upwards, bending a column of earth upwards to create a small island for them.

"Katara, are you OK?" Aang cried frantically. She hasn't drowned, she can't have drowned, she's a waterbender to Spirit's sake...Aang recoiled in shock and horror as he turned her over and saw her face.

There was nothing but a blank slate. No eyes, no nose, no mouth. A true _Tabula Rasa_.

_Koh._ How had he left the spirit world? What was he doing here? It didn't matter. Remembering Roku's warning, Aang set his face into an emotionless mask. Koh was nearby, and if he caught Aang unprepared...

Suddenly the young Avatar whipped his head up and around, focusing on where Koh was lurking in the branches of a nearby tree. Koh was wearing the face of a porcelain doll, grinning at him eerily. _Yes, I did that,_ he seemed to be saying, although he emitted no sound, _now, what are you going to do about it?_

Koh stared at him in silence for a few moments, then turned and slithered away back into the darkness.

Aang turned as his two companions finally caught up, panting as they ran to the riverside.

"Aang! Is Katara all right?" Sokka called out from the edge of the river.

"No," he said sadly, "she's not."

He froze the water between his small island and the shore, creating a bridge to carry her across. She was larger than him, and heavy, but he did not falter for one step.

"Oh, gods, what happened to her?" Sokka asked when he saw her.

"What's going on? What's wrong with Katara?" Toph asked. She could not see the blank space where Katara's face used to be, but something about her vibrations felt _wrong_.

"Her face was stolen, by a powerful spirit named Koh," Aang said. "I'm going to go and make him give it back."

"I'll go with you," Sokka said, pulling out his boomerang. Toph began cracking her knuckles expectantly.

"No, you guys. Koh is way too powerful for either of you to do anything, and all that will happen is that he'll take your faces, too. I've got to do this alone. I need you to take Katara back to the camp, and keep her safe until I get back."

"Hey, twinkletoes, don't thinky ou can leave me behind!" Toph said, but Sokka grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"Let him go, Toph. This is Avatar Stuff. I want a piece of this guy as much as you do, but this is Aang's territory."

Sokka turned to face Aang, and said "Give him one for me, Aang." Then he picked up his sister and walked away.

Aang, left alone once more, set his face into an emotionless mask and took off with his glider, following the trail Koh had left behind. 


	5. The Birth of the FaceStealer

/Author's Note: This story was started and plotted long before Escape from the Spirit World. Which completely fucked this chapter up. I'm soldiering on./

_S__hinbei's downfall began so simply. In the years afterwards, his siblings would often wonder amongst themselves how something so earth-shaking could have started so quietly. _

Shinbei grew bored once more, and approached the Avatar for help. He asked the Avatar to give him a task, something to do, in order to alleviate his boredom.

Arventi would never have given him the response he received. Arventi had infinite patience, and more than enough wisdom to know that he should guard his words more carefully.

But Avatar Soren, for all his power and wisdom, was still but a man, and one out of patience from having spent all day negotiating a treaty between a particularly stubborn pair of Earth Kingdom satrapies. He was in no mood to waste his time occupying his petulant brother's interest, and so he snapped, "Go find someone else to entertain you, Shinbei."

And so he did.

He had mortal servants, of course. All the Great Spirits did. Some were priests and zealots who had devoted their lives to serving their creators. Others were gifts from Kings and Lords, an attempt to appease and appeal to their patron Spirits. The Great Spirits had little use for these servants, but they graciously accepted their offers and set them about little tasks that they could perform in an instant-tasks which would sometimes take a servant the remainder of his life.

He summoned one of these servants to him, a man named Oni, and then bent over and pried off the servant's face. There was nothing malicious in this; he would return it soon enough. He removed his own face and placed it on the servant's head for safekeeping, and donned his servant's face.

Wearing this servant's face, he walked among the mortals and lived among them, trying to extract amusement in this way. He was a wily trickster, and so those he spoke with never had any idea who they were truly speaking to.

In the guise of a man, he was exposed to pain, anger, happiness, love and a whole list of other emotions that he had never truly seen in his normal life. True, the Spirits felt most of these things; but these humans felt them so strongly_, and so rawly, that they were almost unrecognizable. Although he could not feel them himself, he basked in their projected emotions. _

More and more often he returned to his servant, and wore the man's face for longer and longer periods. Mortal life and its emotions were addictive.

And then one day, he left his face attached to Oni's body, and then did not return. Oni waited, for years and years, until finally he realized that Shinbei was not coming back to restore his face. he left then, and began walking the world, terrifying men wherever he went. They say he is still walking, to this day.

Shinbei's addiction to human emotion had grown far beyond the point where simply experiencing it vicariously could sate him. Instead, he had taken to stealing faces when they were full of emotion, and feeding off of them, sucking all emotion from them until they displayed a dead, emotionless expression.

He stalked up the length and breadth of the land, and wherever he found emotion, he took it. None were safe from him: men, women, children, all were taken. Thousands of families found their beloved ones lying in the dirt with no face. The people whispered amongst themselves that a monster was loose in the world, and would continue taking its prey until it was slain.

Great hunting parties and mighty champions were dispatched to find and slay the great beast, but they were all met with failure. If they found anything at all, they either returned without a face or were never seen again. The greatest bounty the world had ever seen was offered to the man who could bring in the body of the face-stealing monster.

All of the Great Spirits knew that something was wrong. Whatever this face-stealer was, it was not of their creation. Perhaps it was a creature from the darkness between the worlds, which had somehow slipped into this land. Perhaps it was some small shred of chaos that had escaped their notice when they were shaping the world, that had taken on its own form. Never did they imagine for a moment that it could be one of them.

And so they would likely never have discovered Shinbei's secret, if he had not made a fatal error.

It was a pale, moonlit night, and Shinbei was slipping across the icy wasteland of the North Pole, in search of a face to feed on, when he saw a beautiful woman of the Water Tribe. She was walking alone, near the outskirts of the city, and the joy in her face made Shinbei's stomach howl. He needed her. And he decided right then that he would have her.

If he had known exactly who she was, he might have hesitated.

Maybe.

* * *

As Aang landed on the temple grounds, snapping his glider shut. Koh was here, he somehow knew. Waiting for him somewhere in this place.

He walked slowly through the ruins, keeping an eye in all directions. Koh could slip through a shadow undetected. He would need to be careful to avoid being ambushed.

Aang stepped into a garden area. Once this would have been a beautiful room, with flowers and trees growing by a flowing stream. Now the stream was blackened and foul, and the gardens were overgrown with gnarled, twisted weeds.

With a roar, Koh burst out from the shadows behind the young Avatar, but Aang had been expecting him. He set his stance and brought up a column of earth behind him, blocking Koh's approach.

Koh skittered along the column's side, rounded the corner and then lunged once more, but Aang was already waiting for him. He bent the stream up out of the riverbed and looped it around himself, hitting Koh in the side as he struck. The force was enough to shift even one as large as the Facestealer, and he went sailing through the air to land on the other side of the garden.

Aang took the offensive, pulling small shards of rock out of the stonework and sending them flying towards Koh, filling up the space between them with quick-moving chunks of earth.

Koh's lids slid shut, and when they opened once more he wore no face. Instead he had a gaping maw, and with a powerful exhalation out of that pit came a cloud of darkness. The rocks were swallowed up by it, and then when the cloud vanished they had disappeared too.

Koh darted across the garden, leaping from tree to tree, never staying in the same place for more than a moment. Aang stood in a guarded stance, waiting for him to make his move. This place was saturated with negative energy. The elements reacted sluggishly, and with much less precision. And he had a feeling that it was as good for Koh as it was bad for him.

A thread of darkness lashed out from Koh's mouth, cracking like a whip across Aang's shoulder. Aang stumbled, and another whipped out, catching him across the chin. Koh unleashed an onslaught of dark whips, forcing Aang to the ground and preventing him from focusing long enough to fight back.

Through sheer force of will Aang pulled himself to his feet, whirled his staff above him, and summoned up a powerful wind that shredded the dark strands.

Aang stood, watching Koh. His breath was heavy, and his skin covered in red welts where the whips had struck him, but his face betrayed not a hint of emotion.

"Why?" he asked in a voice dead of all emotion.

"Why?" Koh asked, shifting to a smug-looking woman's face, "Why her? Why take her face, and leave her for you to find? Because I wanted to, Avatar. Because it amused me. Because she was delicious. And most of all, because I knew it would hurt you."

Koh launched himself forward, and Aang met him with a powerful gust of wind. But Koh simply powered through, slamming into Aang and wrapping him up in his coils.

_He's too strong for me to handle alone..._

Aang could feel the light behind his eyes rising as the Avatar State fought to break free, and he let it.

_

* * *

_

When Avatar Kuruk found his lover, faceless and limp, he was filled with incredible rage. He swore an oath to find and kill the face-stealer, no matter what the cost.

As he wept over her defiled body, he recognized a familiar scent. It was familiar to him although he had never been exposed to it before, for it was the foul scent left by his youngest brother's passing.

In a moment, everything was clear. He had never before thought to connect Shinbei's disappearance with appearance of the Facestealer, but now that he had it seemed almost painfully obvious.

Now that he knew who he was searching for, finding the facestealer was a matter of child's play. A being of power like Shinbei could not go anywhere without disturbing the world around him, leaving a trail...a trail which was easily followed.

Avatar Kuruk hounded at Shinbei's heels, drove him to ground, and then engaged him in a single combat that lasted for days. The powers of light and darkness fought back and forth, and each threw his full power into the fight. But in the end, Avatar Kuruk cast Shinbei's defenses aside and struck at him directly, cracking him open like an egg and destroying his physical body.

Then, for the first time, Arventi left the Avatar's body, so that he could attend the final Council of Spirits. The Great Spirits called the Creator back to their plane so that It could pass judgement on the prodigal spirit. It ruled that Shinbei would retain his purpose, and much of his power, but that his name and titles would be stripped from him, and that he would be forbidden from forming another another the time came for him to bring about the End Of All Days. He was given new names, names which fit the new identity he had forged for himself.

Ebesh, the Fleshrender, for both the viciousness of his attack and the manner in which he tears the face from its rightful place.

Panei, the Betrayer, for the betrayal of his fellow spirits, of the mortals he was charged with, and of the Creator itself.

And Koh, the Face-Stealer.

And so Koh was once again cast back into the Spirit World, where there were no mortals to feed on. He tried taking from the other spirits, but their faces tasted dry and bitter on his tongue, and they could not sate his desire for emotion.

Wracked every day by pains from his addiction, but infinitely far away from anyone who could feed it, Koh withdrew into the darkness underneath a great tree, and waited.

And waited.


	6. The End of the Time of Spirits

  
Koh shrieked in pain as a massive ripple of flame exploded outwards from Aang, scorching his hide and forcing him to release the young Avatar.

Aang's eyes and arrow tattoos were glowing with a brilliant light as he seized the earth beneath them and forced it up violently, sending Koh flying. The smallest flick of his fingers, and an enormous stone pillar shot out of the ceiling as a downwards angle, catching Koh about the midsection and slamming him into the ground with enough force to send cracks cascading through the surrounding stonework.

Aang gestured upwards, and a geyser broke out of the ground beneath Koh, pushing him up into the air once more. The Avatar pulled the water back towards himself, swirling it about, and then sent it back at Koh, freezing it into an icy lance.

Koh twisted in midair, inhaled sharply, and then expelled from his maw a beam of pure darkness. It split the icy lance in two, sending shards of frozen water clattering to the stones.

Koh landed roughly, but quickly caught his feet again and surged forward. This was what he had been waiting for. If he had simply killed Aang, his brother's spirit could move on to somebody else. But by forcing him first into the Avatar State, he could strike directly at his brother, and kill him.

The ground beneath him surged upwards, trying to surround and crush him, but Koh projected a web of darkness around himself, and the rock disintegrated as he pushed through.

Aang threw both hands forward, and hurricane-force winds burst forth, buffeting Koh backwards. Koh pushed against the wind, slowly but surely pressing his way through the gusts. He fired another dark beam, which Aang easily dodged. But then the beam looped around, returning to connect with itself, trapping Aang inside.

Koh pulled on the tether, pulling Aang towards him. Aang severed the cord with a slice of compressed air, then attacked with two enormous gouts of flame.

Moving with inhuman speed, Koh leapt over them, landed and rolled to avoid another assault. He dashed forward, wrapping around Aang, getting behind him. Aang whirled to face him-

-And found himself inches away from Katara's terrified face.

The tortured expression appeared on his face only for an instant. But for Koh, that was enough.

"You're mine!" he crowed triumphantly, lunging forward. Katara's face vanished, replaced once more by that dark maw. He pried Aang's face off with a sound of supreme satisfaction.

He was therefore very surprised when a bust of light flared out from where Aang's face had been, forcing him away.

* * *

_In the aftermath of Shinbei's fall, the other spirits began to grow tired. When the world was new, they were children. When the world was shaped, they were adults. Now the world was balanced and complete, and they were old._

Spirits do not die naturally. Sometimes they fight, and they are even killed, but old age will never take one. But the eight spirits who had formed and ruled the world did the next best thing.

One by one, they encased themselves in mortal forms, and they slept within them. Their power was still there, and at a moment's notice could be released, but in these forms they could at last rest.

Tui and La, who had always been the closest of the Spirits, took the form of twin Koi fish, and took their place in the Spirit Oasis of the Northern Water Tribe. Tui took the form of a white fish with a black mark on her forehead, and La the form of a black fish with a white mark on her head. Around and around the pond they circled, forming the symbol of the Push and Pull that they represented.

Gan took the form of an enormous Badgermole, and stalked the earth beneath a great mountain. Eventually, a pair of lovers from warring families found him about his travels, and by imitating his motions refined and mastered their Earthbending abilities, bringing them to never-before-seen levels.

Basha took the form of a great Skybison and roamed the air currents, controlling and bending the wind to her purposes. Eventually the nomadic monks that had been her favorites imitated her, incorporating her movements into their bending style.

Ilza took the form of a great eaglelizard, proud and majestic and as fierce as the Sun he ruled over.

Ashin took the form of a powerful Dragon, a ferocious beast with a fire burning in his belly. His shape became the most revered image in the entire Fire Nation, and wherever he went he had his appetites sated.

The form that Tysha chose for herself surprised everybody. All who knew her would have expected her to take the form of a winged lemur, or a lizardchimp, some playful trickster animal. Instead she smiled wearily, said that she was tired of jokes, and became an enormous tree. A great swamp grew up around her, and through it she was connected to each and every living being across the earth. Eventually, a small tribe of Waterbenders moved in and lived beneath her branches. And although she claimed to be sick of jokes, from time to time she still indulged in her old ways, summoning up air currents and visions to fool and trick passerbys.

Wan Shi Tong took the form of a great owl, wisest of beasts, but would not rest as his siblings did. He claimed that he still had work to do, and closed himself off in his library, sending his spirit foxes out into the world to gather information to add to his great Record. As always, he did nothing, and recorded everything.

And so the Great Spirits left us, placing the fate of the world in the hands of Man. And foremost among those was the Avatar.

* * *

Koh fell to the dirt, reeling back from the luminous vision before him. Brilliant light was flowing from where Aang's face had been, looping out and around him, forming a golden corona. This was not the pure white light of the Avatar State. It was a soft, golden light, which Koh knew all too well.

Aang's mouth opened, and he spoke, but the voice was not Aang's. It was a powerful, commanding voice, with harmonics inflicted with every syllable.

"**Foolish, foolish Facestealer!**" the presence inhabiting Aang roared. "**Did you truly believe me so easily defeated? That taking this young boy's face would do anything but unseal my power? Surely even you knew better than that.**"

Koh hissed furiously and fired a beam of darkness at the hovering figure, but Aang raised one hand and deflected it effortlessly off to the side.

"**Is this what you wanted? A duel between us? You were never my equal, even before the Creator empowered me to uphold its will. The darkness always retreats before the light.**"

Koh shot off a net of his dark stuff, but it vanished as it approached the golden glow surrounding Aang's body.

"**Enough of this,**" the Great Spirit of Light said derisively. "**You were warned of the consequences of return when you were first banished from this plane. That you ignored them and then did everything short of actively court judgment only reveals the depth of your foolishness. This time, I will destroy you completely, as I should have done centuries ago.**"

"Mercy, Brother, please!" Koh cried frantically. "I'll return both their faces, I'll return to the darkness, never to be seen again, only let me live, I beg you!"

"**Return them? I think not. I will _take_ them back, along with every other face you have stolen!**"

Aang extended one hand, and a beam of radiant golden light shot from it, impaling Koh right through his midsection. Koh began writhing and screaming as the beam melted through his exoskeleton.

"Brother, please!" Koh shouted in agony, "You need me! You need me to maintain the Balance! I am your dark shadow, without me you are nothing! Please, brother, spare me!"

"**The Balance? Do not mock me, Ebesh Fleshrender. I know better than any what is needed for the Balance, and it is not you! When last you betrayed us, the Creator spoke to me. It told me that, should you go against Its will again, I was to destroy you completely, and leave nothing behind. Another will rise to take your place.**"

The beam moved along Koh's body, cutting through the shell and splitting him open. Koh was beyond speaking at this point, and could do little more than scream incoherently as Arventi's light seared through him.

"**You narrowly avoided this fate long ago, when the Creator took pity on you. But It is not here now, and I am the one who is passing judgment on you. For your crimes, I sentence you to oblivion.**"

Koh's insectile body split open, revealing a gruesome sight. All throughout his body, in lieu of internal organs, he had thousands upon thousands of face, revolving, turning, milling about and flowing.

As if sensing a chance at freedom, the faces poured forth from him. There were far, far more in there than could possibly have fit, but they kept coming anyways, pushing out of his split body and grasping at the sunlight. All but two bore the same empty expression.

When at last they had all emerged from their prison, the beam of light intensified, incinerating what remained of Koh's body. Aang turned to face the sea of faces, which were surrounding him, staring expectantly.

He bowed low, in a huble and respectful manner.

"**I sincerely apologize for my brother's behavior,**" Arventi said through Aang. "**If I had been able to, I would have freed you at the earliest possible opportunity.**"

He straightened, and addressed them one final time.

"**Go now, and return to your bodies.**"

It was a moment before the first face tentatively floated away. The second followed shortly afterwards. Then another, and another, until there was a flowing whirlpool of faces, taking off and floating away to be reunited with their bodies. And although none of them spoke, each of them said _thank you_ nonetheless.

Faces streaked across the sky, seeming to the people below to be as shooting stars. Everywhere a face had been taken, they went. They slipped quietly into graveyards, under tombs, and into the wilderness, to the bodies that had never been found.

A few miles away, Katara opened her eyes once more with a wrenching sob.

"Katara!" Sokka cried out happily, dashing to her side. She threw herself into his arms, weeping hysterically.

"Oh gods, Sokka, it was so awful...it was like there was this little dark corridor, and you kept going around and around and around, and you knew that you were never getting out and nobody was coming to save you and..."

"It's okay now," Sokka said, holding her tightly as she babbled on, "You're safe now." Mentally he thanked Aang for whatever he had done as he held her until she stopped crying. After a few minutes, even normally-aloof Toph joined in, lending what comfort she was able.

And then, when every one of the faces had returned to its rightful owner, Aang's face floated onto his head, and the light shut off. Aang collapsed on the floor, asleep.  



	7. Epilogue

  
_In the deep, consuming darkness at the core of the Spirit World there stands a tree. It is a gnarled, hunched old thing, full of wickedness and hate. In its branches crows scan the earth for something dead to eat, and at its base a bonobo feels its face, as though for the first time. The black birds cluck disappointedly._

This tree was the home of Koh the Face-Stealer.

As the man approaches, walking staff in hand, the crows cease their calling, and the bonobo turns to stare. This was something new, something they had not seen before: A man with the face of a monster.

Oni surveys his destination. He has been walking for centuries to arrive here. Centuries of being an outcast, a freak, of being hounded for his monstrous appearance.

All to reach this place.

Oni steps into the tree's entranceway, his eyes moving back and forth to make sure this place's previous inhabitant had not set any traps or snares to catch the unwary. He had not. Koh had cared no more for security than he had for his mortal servants.

He pushes some vines out of the way and steps into a large room. At the center was what he had come here looking for.

He exhales triumphantly, looking up at his prize. it is everything he had ever dreamed of. This was well worth the price.

His attention is diverted for a moment by a small object floating down and hovering before him. It takes him a moment to recognize it; It has been such a long time since last he saw it. He reaches out and takes it, lovingly, and presses it against the back of his head. It melds perfectly against his flesh, attaching itself to him.

He walks up to the great obsidian throne, the object he had come seeking, and sits upon it. The runes glow brighter, and he can feel power seeping into him through his monstrous face.

Oni Two-Face,_ he thinks, _Great Spirit of the Dark._ He rather likes the sound of that._  



End file.
